Sermon Tone Analysis

-18Pray

Pray

I want to start today with a question.

How are you responding to Jesus?

Each week, we offer a time at the end of the sermon called the invitation.

I define that as an invitation to respond to what God is saying to you.

I say that because I firmly believe that as Christians almost all of our existence is a response to God.

Think about it.

When you are first saved, you are responding to the Gospel message.

True worship is a response toward a worthy God.

Even obedience is our response to the grace God has shown us.

Even today, as I speak, there are Christians who are responding to the disaster zones created by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Katia.

I could go on and on, but I would never get to the passage I read a few moments ago.

So, the question again, is: How are you responding to Jesus?

As I prepared this sermon, I was struck by the responses of the people in the story.

So, we will focus on those responses as a way to understand why the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this particular story in this particular way.

We know the over-arching theme that John wrote under.

He told us in

:31This story shows that Jesus is indeed the Christ.

And it even has Jesus claiming to be the Son of God with His own words.

But I think the key to understanding the story is that we would believe by reading it.

Because, we will see, we have 2 instances in this story of an unbelieving response to Jesus.

So, without further introduction, let’s plunge into this story of a healing as we ask the question: How am I responding to Jesus?

This story shows that Jesus is indeed the Christ.

And it even has Jesus claiming to be the Son of God with His own words.

But I think the key to understanding the story is that we would believe by reading it.

Because, we will see, we have 2 instances in this story of an unbelieving response to Jesus.

So, without further introduction, let’s plunge into this story of a healing as we ask the question: How am I responding to Jesus?

We’ll begin by looking at the setting for the story

1.

The Setting

The Setting

1.1.

Now, you may have noticed that we skipped verse 4. If you are using the ESV, you’ll notice that verse is in the footnotes.

I’m not going to dwell on this for a long time.

If you have questions, please talk to me after the service.

I will simply tell you that verse 4 is not found in the majority of the ancient scrolls that have .

It is in some of them, but not all of them and not in the oldest of them.

This is not a horrible thing.

Someone along the way as they were transcribing this story thought it needed a little more detail about the pool, but we are fairly certain that John did not include those details.

And, to be honest, those details are really not needed for John’s purpose.

So, I will not speak to verse 4 any further.

1.2.

Jesus has returned to Jerusalem.

The last time He was here, He cleansed the temple and spoke with Nicodemus.

Then He went up to Galilee by way of Samaria.

And now He returns to Jerusalem for some festival, but John doesn’t tell us which festival.

Because, you see, which Jewish festival Jesus came to Jerusalem for does not add anything to what John is saying.

1.3.

In Jerusalem, by the Sheep’s Gate there was this pool called Bethesda.

Around the pool were 5 roofed colonnades.

Gathered in these colonnades was a whole multitude of invalids.

Some were blind, some lame, and some paralyzed.

Basically, there is a crowd around the pool.

And this is the point where verse 4 was added, but we get all that we need to get in just a moment.

WHY they are gathered is not in focus right now.

It is merely a description of the scene.

1.4.

But there was a man in that crowd who had been an invalid for 38 years.

Friends, that’s a long time.

We don’t learn anything about the multitude of others gathered there, but we do find out about this one man.

Do you see how John started with a large picture?

He started with Jerusalem, then zoomed into the Sheep Gate and the pool, then zoomed in further to the colonnades and the multitude of invalids, then he zoomed in one more time to one particular invalid who had been that way for 38 years.

And the stage is set.

Our attention is on this one man.

What will Jesus do?

Let’s read on.

The first response

2. The first response

2.1.

Just like John got us to focus on this one man, Jesus sees him.

John had to tell us that he had been an invalid for 38 years, but Jesus already knew that he had been there a long time.

So, Jesus asks Him a simple question, Do you want to be healed?

I think Jesus is asking him seriously, perhaps even compassionately if he wanted to be healed.

2.2.

If I can just interject my own thinking at this point.

If had been stuck on a bed, depending on others for everything for 38 years and some stranger came up to me and asked if I wanted to be healed, my response would not be kind.

I might say something like, “Ya think?!?”

But this guy certainly isn’t me.

2.3.

Instead of being snarky, he gives Jesus his excuse for not already being healed.

There is no one to help him get in the pool when the water is stirred up.

Therefore, whenever the water is stirred up, someone always beats him in.

Poor, pitiful me.

It may be that the man thought Jesus was going to be that helper.

That Jesus was going to heal according to the man’s definition of how he could be healed.

And that is why he pointed out that he couldn’t get to the pool fast enough.

He only had one way to be healed in his mind.

Anything else was just not even in sight.

2.4.

Jesus ignores his excuse and tells him to get up, pick up his bed, and walk.

And the man KNEW that he had been healed.

He no longer needed the pool.

Do you see that in verse 9? At once he was healed and picked up his bed and walked.

A miracle has just happened!

A man who had been an invalid for 38 years got up, picked up his bed, and walked.

No surgery.

No physical therapy.

No occupational therapy.

He just got up, picked up his bed, and walked.

This is amazing!

Isn’t it?

2.5.

Before we move on to the underwhelming response of the Jewish leaders, let’s talk for a moment about this man’s response.

First of all, when Jesus asked him a direct question, the man basically complained that it wasn’t happening his way.

But when he was healed, he did EXACTLY what Jesus told him to do.

And maybe you remember from last week when the ruler’s son was sick.

Jesus lamented, Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.

(4:48) This guy didn’t believe in anything except what he already knew until he was healed.

This is what I mean.